In the process of specifying, ordering and tracking all of the pieces for a project, a design firm must make thousands of decisions and manage thousands more tiny details. In short, there’s plenty of room for error (not to mention a lot of pressure to get it just right). We asked eight designers about how they keep all of that information straight—and their craziest moments when it all went awry.

Who handles procurement on your team right now, and how does it work?

Chenault James: Our design director places most of the orders once we have approval and the deposit from clients. Typically, the same person who is placing the orders is tracking and managing the expediting process, which keeps our systems pretty streamlined. If we have a lot of orders at once, we’ll split them up by proposal or priority among our team so we can keep everything moving as quickly as possible. To manage so many moving parts, you have to have great systems and communication in place. For us, that’s Studio Designer. The software makes it very easy to propose an item, place the order and manage the expediting process. There are also an abundance of reports available so that you can see the whole picture of your business and procurement process all at once, whether that’s [organized] by client or by room.